


You Are Not A Ghost

by DianaSolaris



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Gen, POV Second Person, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 04:48:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11707125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DianaSolaris/pseuds/DianaSolaris
Summary: SEASON 3 SPOILERS!!You are not a ghost. Even if, these days, the proof is overwhelming. Season 3 oneshot, written literally right after I finished watching.





	You Are Not A Ghost

You are not a ghost.

At least that’s what you tell yourself, avoiding the eyes of the other paladins (your friends), walking through the halls of the Castle and trying to puzzle out why none of this is familiar.

“Shiro.”

Your name.

You turn to Keith. He stares at you with a wary concern you know – _you know –_ you don’t deserve. You keep coming back from the dead, back to _him,_ and he still doesn’t trust you – and why do you keep thinking perhaps he’s right?

Later, you ask, “How many times are you going to save me?”

You are not a ghost.

(You think.)

\---

You are not a ghost.

But even though she saved your life, the Black Lion’s controls are grave-silent under your hands. You know they need you. They _must_ need you.

(Or do you need them to need you? What are you if you aren’t a leader? What’s left under the armour?)

You ask Keith to take your place again. Just for now – just while you try to fill the holes in your head, more than ever before, more than you’ve ever had to navigate, more than you can possibly find in a lifetime.

“I’m proud of you,” you say to him later, ignoring the jealousy writhing in your stomach. If you were a braver man, you would say, _I’m afraid of you. I’m afraid your fire will burn all of my shadows away._

You are not a ghost.

\----

You are not a ghost, even if you touch the contours of your face and can’t remember why they’re there.

\---

You are not a ghost, even if you can’t remember the names of your parents and just smile and change the subject when Keith brings them up.

\---

You are not a ghost –

\---

When they find him – or he finds them, you suppose – you can’t move. Because you _knew._ You knew you were no more real than the fever dreams at night. Takashi Shirogane is laughing and breathing and hugging his friends in front of you, and you’re a thief of memory, a trick, a trap.

You knew, but somewhere, you forgot. Everybody wants to be real, after all. Everybody wants to be important. And Lance is trying to be sympathetic with those sidealong looks – Pidge is trying to technobabble something genuine, but Keith’s eyes are full of distrust and anger and that’s what matters.

You are not a ghost.

Ghosts were alive, first.  


End file.
